by Ken Been<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One\u00a0<\/u>
\nPenitentiary eyes
\nthey have done time
\nand been rolled nearly down
\nunsure of the position of the sun
\nin what may be a time of day under West Virginia
\nwhere words are clawed off the walls
\nas we may grate potatoes
\nover an iron sink
\nfixing dinner stories pulled from deep in the earth.<\/p>\n
Two<\/u>
\nA spectacle:
\nThe town folks rim the shaft to the oracle
\nlike a hammer and pick teeth
\nloose in the gums of the earth
\njust waiting for the shift change to ride out in helmets
\nseated in pairs on mule-drawn carts along wooden tracks
\nthrough the dust
\nof day and night
\nan unsweepable soot
\nthat they swing from censors
\ncoughing-up hymns
\nwhich settle on the land.<\/p>\n
Three<\/u>
\nLooked like always
\nas if that were possible
\nto wake up
\nfrom a scuffle
\na knife fight
\nwith misleading hair
\nand cuts disguised as wrinkles.<\/p>\n
Four<\/u>
\nA squint
\nand line of light on the cracked plaster of the apartment wall
\nmaybe somebody walking by below
\noff Adams Street,
\nsliding a finger under the hem of a cheap window shade
\ncut to size
\nat the old hardware
\nthat used to be downtown
\nin Fairmont.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ken Been\u2019s poetry has been published or is forthcoming in numerous journals and anthologies. His most recent placements include LIT Magazine, The Opiate, Aethlon, Dodging The Rain, New Feathers Anthology, Griffel, The RavensPerch<\/em> and The Metaworker Literary Magazine<\/em>. His work has also been featured in Argyle Poetry Review, Stone Poetry Quarterly, October Hill Magazine, Arlington Literary Journal, Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti<\/em> and in many other publications. He is from Detroit.<\/p>\n
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